Miscellaneous unorganized material/WDAZ-TV
WDAZ-TV, channel 8, is an ABC affiliate located in Grand Forks, North Dakota. The station serves the northern half of the Fargo-Grand Forks television market. The station also has significant viewership in southern Manitoba, Canada including Winnipeg and Steinbach as it is carried on cable. The station is owned by Forum Communications of Fargo, North Dakota, which also owns the Grand Forks Herald. WDAZ also operates a studio and sales office in Devils Lake, North Dakota; its city of license. The station broadcasts from a 1,400-foot tower located near Dahlen, North Dakota, which is roughly between Grand Forks and Devils Lake. While WDAZ identifies as a station in its own right, it is generally considered to be a semi-satellite of WDAY-TV in Fargo. It produces its own newscasts, and airs its own commercials. However, it rebroadcasts most of WDAY-TV's syndicated programming, and the two stations often share news stories. WDAZ serves the northern portion of the Fargo-Grand Forks market, while WDAY-TV serves the southern portion. The station is noted for being nationally honored with the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award for Continuing Coverage during the Red River Flood of 1997. The station also became exposed on YouTube for its report on the emo trend on February 23, 2007. WDAZ has broadcast exclusively in digital since February 17, 2009.[2] Fargo CW, a CW affiliate is carried on a digital subchannel of WDAZ (channel 8.2 PSIP). Fargo CW is carried on most cable systems in the Fargo-Grand Forks market. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WDAZ-TV&action=edit&section=1 edit History http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WDAZ1983.PNGhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WDAZ1983.PNGWDAZ logo (c. 1983)WDAZ went on the air for the first time on January 29, 1967 as a semi-satellite of WDAY-TV. Unlike the other Fargo stations, WDAY-TV does not put a strong signal into Grand Forks and the northern part of the market. It must conform its signal to protect CBC Television station CBWT of Winnipeg, which is also on channel 6. Originally an NBC affiliate, it switched to ABC along with sister station WDAY-TV in May 1983; KTHI-TV (now KVLY-TV) became the new NBC affiliate. As a result, KTHI was removed from the terrestrial cable television service in southwestern Manitoba (which already had an NBC affiliate in KMOT, Minot), and WDAZ briefly found itself carried on Canadian cable until all North Dakota broadcasts were replaced with broadcasts from Detroit and/or Toledo, Ohio stations. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WDAZ19832.PNGhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WDAZ19832.PNGWDAZ logo from 1983, prior to the station's affiliation change from NBC to ABC.The station won the Edward R. Murrow Award for continuing coverage in 1997 for staying on-the-air providing coverage of the 1997 flood while Grand Forks was evacuated. In 2007, WDAZ began broadcasting in high-definition. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WDAZ.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WDAZ.jpgWDAZ's old logo used in station IDs. Variations of this logo were used from 1983 to 2005. A variation of this logo is still mounted on its studio building in Grand Forks.WDAZ is one of the few stations in the country that still signs off at night. It goes off the air after its 12:06 a.m. airing of Jimmy Kimmel Live and does not show World News Now, it is also best-known for pre-empting most NBA Countdown shows on Sunday mornings during the NBA season for paid programming. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WDAZ-TV&action=edit&section=2 edit Locally produced programs Most locally produced programs outside of newscasts are weekend University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux coaches shows for football and basketball featuring interviews, highlights, and previews during the college athletic seasons, and is seen after the 10:00 p.m. news on Sunday. WDAZ formerly broadcast a political talk show called Agenda, which was primarily on local and regional issues. WDAY-TV produces a local outdoors show called Great Outdoors seen occasionally on WDAZ. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WDAZ-TV&action=edit&section=3 edit Newscasts http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WDAZ-TV&action=edit&section=4 edit Personnel *'Ernie the Angler' Station Manager *'Cassie Walder' News Director *'Milo Smith' Anchor *'Nate Millard' Far Out 1970s Live Van operator *'Casey Wonnenberg' Weekend Anchor *'Chris Regimbal' Chief Photographer http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WDAZ-TV&action=edit&section=5 edit News WDAZ produces local newscasts during Monday through Friday at 5:00 p.m., 6:00 p.m., and 10:00 p.m., Saturdays at 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., and a Sunday newscast at 10:00 p.m. The morning newscast, First News, at 6:00am Monday through Fridays, is simulcast with WDAY-TV. Longtime WDAZ personalities include news anchors Milo Smith and Terry Dullum, and sports anchor Pat Sweeney. Local weather forecasts are pre-recorded from WDAY-TV meteorologists. Chuck Bundlie was the station's first news director and anchor, serving from 1967-1992. WDAZ's newscasts are the most watched in Grand Forks because it is the only TV station in Grand Forks that produces newscasts. The station sometimes claims to have more people watching its newscasts than its competitors (KVLY, KXJB-TV and KBRR) combined. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WDAZ-TV&action=edit&section=6 edit Sports WDAZ is also known for its coverage of University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux athletics. WDAZ airs a weekly sports program, "Sioux Sports Extra" with Jody Norstedt for Fighting Sioux football and basketball featuring interviews, highlights, and previews during the college athletic seasons. The station also produces telecasts in conjunction with the University of North Dakota both for its own airwaves and a cable network known as the Fighting Sioux Sports Network. This network, also known as "FSSN", broadcasts Fighting Sioux hockey, football, and basketball games which are distributed on cable television by Midcontinent Communications and other cable systems in North Dakota, Minnesota, and South Dakota. The Fighting Sioux Sports Network is also available all across the North American continent via Free-To-Air satellite. WDAZ Sports Director Pat Sweeney handles UND play-by-play on FSSN. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WDAZ-TV&action=edit&section=7 edit News/Station presentation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WDAZ1985.pnghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WDAZ1985.pngIntro logo of The 10 O'Clock Report from 1985. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WDAZ-TV&action=edit&section=8 edit Newscast titles *''The xx:00 Report'' (1980s) *''WDAZ News Center 8'' (1986–1999) *''WDAZ News'' (1999–present) http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WDAZ-TV&action=edit&section=9 edit Station slogans *''Your Home Team'' (1999–present) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Television.svg This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WDAZ-TV&action=edit&section=10 edit Coverage area Although WDAZ broadcasts in a small market that reaches only 82,000 television households, the station is also carried on Shaw Communications and MTS TV in southern Manitoba, including the Winnipeg area, reaching an additional 256,000 homes. Winnipeg is the center of a market with over 1 million people—more than three times the entire population of WDAZ's American coverage area (and indeed double the entire population of the Fargo/Grand Forks market). WDAZ and Prairie Public Television are the only stations from this region that still air in Manitoba, after KVLY-TV (formerly KTHI) and KXJB were replaced with other network affiliates in March 1986. This was due to a Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission decision that allowed the Winnipeg cable companies to replace the CBS and NBC affiliates with Detroit stations because of complaints about poor reception, but denied them the ability to replace WDAZ with WXYZ or PPTV with WTVS (although this station would later be added as a second PBS station to cable customers). [2] Shaw Cable airs WDAZ on cable channel 7 and MTS TV airs WDAZ on cable channel 13. WDAZ can also be seen over the air in extreme southern Manitoba, and in southern parts of Winnipeg, with a rooftop antenna. WDAZ's over-the-air signal is spotty at best in Manitoba, as its transmitter is more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) from Winnipeg. Advertising from Winnipeg businesses sometimes air on the station, although this is sometimes ineffective due to simultaneous substitution. This practice requires Shaw and MTS to replace WDAZ's signal with that of a Winnipeg station (usually either CKY-TV or CKND-TV) whenever the same program and episode airs at the same time. Because WDAZ is carried on cable in southern Manitoba, it has become somewhat of a regional superstation. Some areas that carry WDAZ on cable in western Minnesota are actually in the northwestern part of the Minneapolis/St. Paul television market. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WDAZ-TV&action=edit&section=11 edit Digital television The station's digital signal is multiplexed: Digital channels http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WDAZ-TV&action=edit&section=12 edit Translators WDAZ rebroadcasts on the following translators (low power rebroadcasters): *'K48CQ' 48 Roseau, Minnesota *'K57AR' 57 Baudette, Minnesota *'K61AR' 61 Williams, Minnesota http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WDAZ-TV&action=edit&section=13 edit WDAZ-TV tower WDAZ-TV broadcasts from a 445.2 meter (1,460.2 feet) high guy-wired aerial mast, making it the third tallest tower in North Dakota after the KVLY-TV tower and KXJB-TV tower. The tower is located in Dahlen, North Dakota, roughly located between Grand Forks and Devils Lake. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WDAZ-TV&action=edit&section=14 edit See also *Fighting Sioux Sports Network *Grand Forks Herald *WDAY-TV http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WDAZ-TV&action=edit&section=15 edit External links *WDAZ website *Fargo CW *Tower site photos on endmilled.com *[3] *Query the FCC's TV station database for WDAZ **Query the FCC's TV station database for K48CQ **Query the FCC's TV station database for K57AR **Query the FCC's TV station database for K61AR *BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WDAZ-TV *Program Information for WDAZ at TitanTV.com http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WDAZ-TV&action=edit&section=16 edit References #'^' The Broadcasting and Cable Yearbook says January 29, while the Television and Cable Factbook says February 8. #'^' [1]